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How Good Is Guangzhou Evergrande?

Supporters of Guangzhou Evergrande cheer during the AFC Asian Champions League match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Yokohama F. Marinos at Tianhe Sports Center on April 22, 2014 in Guangzhou, China.

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has bought a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande for 1.2 billion yuan ($192 million), but how good is the Chinese soccer team?

On a regional level, Guangzhou Evergrande has risen to the top of the pile. The team is the club champion of Asia, which in soccer covers an enormous area – from the Middle East to Australia. In its defense of the title this year, the team topped its group and has qualified for the knockout phase, which starts with the quarterfinals in August.

Guangzhou Evergrande is also top of the Chinese Super League, albeit by only one point. It has won 10 of its 14 matches in the domestic league this season, and lost two and drawn two, leaving it on 32 points, just ahead of Beijing Guo’an.

The club has improved under the leadership of Marcello Lippi, one of the world’s top coaches. The 66-year-old was in charge of Italy when the country won the World Cup in 2006, adding to the silverware he earned as coach of Italian club Juventus. He joined Guangzhou Evergrande in 2012 on a two-and-a-half year contract reportedly worth €10 million ($13.6 million) a season, making him one of the highest paid coaches in world soccer. He signed a new three-year contract in February.

The club was doing well even before the Italian’s arrival. It was top of the Chinese Super League and had qualified for the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League three days before Mr. Lippi was signed. But that wasn’t enough to save the coach at the time, Lee Jang-soo, who couldn’t compete with Mr. Lippi’s pedigree.

Mr. Lee oversaw Guangzhou’s promotion to the Chinese Super League in 2010 after the club, under its former owners, had been relegated the previous season following a match-fixing scandal.

Guangzhou Evergrande has won the domestic league title every year since, including in the treble-winning year of 2012 – Mr. Lippi’s first season – when it also won the FA Cup and Super Cup.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, however. Despite topping its group, the club’s qualification to the knockout stage of this year’s Asian Champions League was only sealed at the last minute. Guangzhou Evergrande had been cruising through the group, but two losses in a row left it on the brink of being knocked out.

Guangzhou Evergrande’s path to the top of Asia remains pretty clear, but it will be a while before the club strikes fear into the hearts of opponents in soccer hotbeds like Europe, no matter how much money it spends.